60 Fun Facts About Garth Brooks

In which Oklahoma city was Garth Brooks born in 1962?

His mother, Colleen Carroll, had been a 1950s country singer on Capitol Records; his father was a draftsman for an oil company.

His mother, a 1950s country singer, appeared on which television show?

She recorded for Capitol, the same label her son later signed with.

The family hosted weekly talent nights at their home in which small Oklahoma town?

Every child had to take part, singing or doing skits; Brooks learned guitar and banjo but was mostly focused on sports.

Brooks went to college on a track scholarship. In which event did he compete?

He worked nights as a bouncer at a local bar and graduated in 1984 with a degree in advertising.

Which university did he attend, later returning to finish an MBA in 2011?

He walked in the commencement ceremony on May 6, 2011, decades after his advertising degree.

What was the name of the band Brooks formed in college, playing whatever the crowd wanted?

His college roommate Ty England later played guitar in his road band until going solo in 1995.

Whose 1981 debut single 'Unwound' convinced Brooks to play country instead of rock?

Before that he was more into 1970s singer-songwriters and rock than anything on country radio.

How long did Brooks's first trip to Nashville, in 1985, last before he went home to Oklahoma?

Attorney Rod Phelps had lent him contacts and credit cards; Phelps kept nagging until Brooks and his wife moved there for good in 1987.

What was Brooks's debut single, released in March 1989?

It's about a worn-out rodeo cowboy and name-checks the rider-singer who was Brooks's biggest stage influence; it peaked at number 8.

What was his first number-one on the Hot Country Songs chart?

Co-writer Kent Blazy had the first verse down within 15 seconds of hearing the idea; Brooks calls it a father-to-daughter love song.

Which Irish singer topped the UK chart in 2002 with a cover of Brooks's first country number one?

His version was number one in four countries and top five in several more, giving the song a second life a decade on.

Which song does Brooks say is his favorite of everything he has recorded?

He played it at NASCAR's 2001 awards as a tribute to Dale Earnhardt; the video was the ACM Video of the Year.

Which champion bull rider appears in the video for the ballad closing his debut album?

He was killed by a bull in 1989 after a full eight-second ride; the montage also includes Keith Whitley, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Challenger crew.

Whose opening act was Brooks on his first major tour in 1989?

By late 1990 he had been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

Which song from No Fences became his signature blue-collar anthem?

It spent four weeks at number one and won both the ACM and CMA Single of the Year for 1990.

Which pair wrote his signature drinking anthem after a lunch at Nashville's Tavern on the Row?

They first gave the song to Brooks only to sing the demo, before his own debut had come out.

When those two songwriters first met the struggling Brooks in Nashville, what was his day job?

They gave him demo work; that famous song's demo was the last one he ever sang for hire.

TNN banned the video for 'The Thunder Rolls' a day after release. What did it depict?

Brooks played the philandering husband himself so the character would be 'so despicable that the whole viewing audience wanted to shoot him'.

Which singer recorded "The Thunder Rolls" first, in 1988, only to shelve it?

Her version finally surfaced on a 1995 box set; Brooks co-wrote the song with Pat Alger, who plays acoustic guitar on the hit.

Which 1991 album was the first by a country artist to enter the Billboard 200 at number one?

It had advance orders of 4 million and pushed his first two albums back up the chart, giving him three albums in the top 20 at once.

Which Billy Joel song did Brooks cover as a single from his third album?

Joel later joined him on stage at the free Central Park concert in 1997.

Written after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, "We Shall Be Free" won Brooks an award from which organization?

The song's line about being 'free to love anyone we choose' was read as support for same-sex relationships; it stalled at number 12, his first miss of the top 10 in three years.

Before singing the 1993 Super Bowl anthem, Brooks walked out until NBC agreed to do what?

The network caved; the video, dedicated 'to the human spirit', had premiered on CMT that January.

In 1993 Brooks persuaded Capitol not to ship In Pieces to stores that did what?

He argued the practice cost songwriters royalties; antitrust lawsuits followed and the label backed down.

A top British DJ nicknamed Brooks what during his 1994 'invasion' of the UK charts?

He sold out Wembley Arena and Birmingham's NEC, which no American country act had done, and started a London radio station, Country 1035.

On a 1994 tribute album, Brooks teamed with which band to record "Hard Luck Woman"?

The unlikely pairing performed it on The Tonight Show, and the track still made the country chart.

The video for "Standing Outside the Fire" follows a student with Down syndrome who signs up for what?

Brooks doesn't appear until two minutes in; he says most letters he gets about the song come from Special Olympics families.

His 2022 performance of which song at LSU's Tiger Stadium registered on the university's seismograph?

It's LSU football's pre-game song; only quarterback Tommy Hodson had previously shaken the crowd hard enough to show up as an earthquake.

"The Fever", his first single ever to miss the country top 10, was a cover of which rock band?

It stalled at number 23 in 1995, though Fresh Horses still produced two more number ones.

The free 1997 Central Park concert dubbed 'Garthstock' was broadcast live on which network?

The fire department put the crowd at over a million, beating Paul Simon's 1991 record of about 600,000 for the park.

"To Make You Feel My Love", a number one for Brooks in 1998, was written by whom?

It appeared on the Hope Floats soundtrack and crossed to the adult contemporary top 10; Adele later made it a standard again.

Which 1998 release, recorded on his second world tour, became the best-selling concert album of all time?

It is certified 25 times platinum and is the seventh-most shipped album in US history.

With Steve Wariner, Brooks took which Sevens single to number one?

Sevens debuted at number one and became his fourth album to sell 10 million.

In 1999 Brooks adopted the alter ego Chris Gaines, a rock star from which country?

The soul-patch-and-wig persona was meant to set up a film, and it bewildered most of the public.

The Chris Gaines album was meant as the soundtrack to which never-made film?

Financial and management problems killed the movie; Brooks even played Gaines in a VH1 Behind the Music mockumentary and on SNL.

Which Chris Gaines song remains Brooks's only top-40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100?

It peaked at number 5, higher on the pop chart than any of his country smashes ever managed.

When he announced his retirement in 2000, Brooks said he would stay away at least until what happened?

The retirement lasted from 2001 to 2005, though he sold millions of albums through a single big-box retailer in the meantime.

In 2005 Brooks leased his entire catalog exclusively to which retailer?

The Limited Series box set sold more than 500,000 copies on its release day through the chain.

What perk did Steve Wynn give Brooks to make the 2009-2014 Las Vegas residency work around family life?

The weekend-only shows were solo and acoustic, and USA Today called them the 'antithesis of Vegas glitz'.

At which Dublin stadium were five 2014 Brooks concerts cancelled after a licensing row?

He refused to play only three of the five shows, so all were scrapped; he later expressed remorse at the press conference announcing his comeback.

What was GhostTunes, launched in 2014?

He bypassed iTunes and put his catalog online for the first time there; it closed in 2017 and merged into Amazon Music.

What was the title of his 2014 comeback album?

Its single "People Loving People" debuted at number 19 on Country Airplay, tying his third-highest debut.

With which team did Brooks first sign up for spring training, in 1998?

He later trained with the other three too, getting his one and only hit off Mike Myers with the Royals in 2004.

What was his batting record during spring training with the New York Mets?

He was offered a non-roster spot after his first stint with another club and turned it down.

Which children's charity did Garth Brooks found in 1999 with baseball, hockey and football arms?

Its baseball arm is called Touch 'Em All; he rejoined spring training with the Pirates in 2019 to promote it.

Brooks named his first daughter after which singer-songwriter he idolized?

Taylor Mayne Pearl was born in 1992; her sisters are August Anna and Allie Colleen.

Who was Brooks's first wife, a songwriter he married in 1986?

They separated in 1999 and the divorce was final in December 2001; he remarried in December 2005.

Yearwood's Emmy-winning Food Network cooking series is called what?

Her cookbooks include Garth's Breakfast Bowl, a dish involving cheese and garlic tortellini.

Which 1991 debut single made Trisha Yearwood a star?

It went to number one; she was born in Monticello, Georgia, and sang at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Brooks has nine RIAA Diamond albums, breaking whose previous record of six?

No Fences alone is 17 times platinum and his 1998 live double album 21 times.

In 2020, at 57, Brooks became the youngest-ever recipient of which Library of Congress honor?

Cher handed him the Billboard Icon Award the same year, and the Kennedy Center Honors followed in 2021.

What did Brooks sing at Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021?

He called the performance an opportunity 'to serve' and 'a statement of unity'; at Obama's 2009 inaugural celebration he had sung 'American Pie' and 'Shout'.

Which John Lennon song did Brooks and Yearwood perform at Jimmy Carter's state funeral in January 2025?

The service was held at Washington National Cathedral.

His largest ticketed concert, 90,000 people in August 2021, was at a stadium in which state?

Memorial Stadium in Lincoln hosted it as part of the Stadium Tour, which had opened at Notre Dame in 2018.

Brooks says the energy of his stage persona is directly inspired by which rodeo rider-turned-singer?

He recorded "Good Ride Cowboy" as a tribute after LeDoux's death in 2005, and had name-checked him in his very first single.

"Dive Bar", his 2019 single that spawned a seven-bar promotional tour, is a duet with whom?

He later opened his own Nashville honky-tonk and staged an Amazon Music Live special there in 2023.

What nickname is given to the studio band that has played on almost all of his records?

They were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame with him in 2016; bassist Mike Chapman died that June.

What was the title of his first Christmas album, the best-selling holiday record of 1992?

It mixed 'White Christmas' and 'Silent Night' with an original, 'The Old Man's Back in Town'.

What did Garth Brooks rename his main Nashville studio for his 50th birthday in 2012?

It began life in 1971 as Jack's Tracks, founded by Jack Clement and later owned by Brooks's producer Allen Reynolds.

In which year was Garth Brooks inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame?

He had entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame the year before, and joined the Musicians Hall of Fame with his G-Men studio band in 2016.